How to check if an employer is real in Australia

If a job offer has left you feeling uneasy, that instinct is worth listening to. Job hunting is stressful enough without wondering whether the company on the other end of the email is really who they say they are. The good news is that you can check any Australian employer against free government records in about ten seconds, and this guide walks you through exactly how.

Checking an employer simply means looking them up in the public records the Australian government already keeps. Three sources matter most.

An ABN (Australian Business Number) is the 11-digit identifier every registered Australian business must have, and anyone can look one up for free on ABN Lookup. ASIC registration is the national register of company and business names, where a company trading under a name should appear. AusTender is the federal government contracts database, which shows whether a business has held any federal government contracts.

A few things are worth paying attention to. The first is no ABN at all — every Australian employer can provide one on request, so reluctance to share it before you hand over personal documents is worth noting. The second is an ABN registered less than 30 days ago; new businesses are completely normal, but a brand-new registration paired with pressure to act quickly deserves a closer look. The third is a mismatch between the company name on the ABN and the name in the job ad — sometimes that is an innocent trading name and sometimes it is not, so ask the employer to confirm their legal name in writing. The fourth is being asked to share identity documents or pay anything before you have even had an interview, which is rarely how genuine employers operate.

A check like this shows you government registry status, and nothing more. It can confirm that an ABN is active and who it is registered to, but it cannot read anyone's intentions. A determined bad actor can hold a perfectly valid ABN, and someone can even borrow a real company's ABN for a dishonest ad, so a check cannot detect identity fraud on its own. Treat the result as one useful input and keep trusting your own judgement alongside the data.

For context, Australians lost more than $19 million to fake job ads in 2025, according to the ACCC Scamwatch Targeting Scams Report — which is exactly why a ten-second check before you apply is worth it. You can read more about Employer Check and the data it uses.

If you have already applied or shared documents and you are now worried, take a breath — there are clear next steps. If you have shared personal documents, contact IDCARE, Australia's national identity and cyber support service, for free help. If you think a job ad is a scam, report it to Scamwatch. Acting early gives you the most options, and both services exist precisely for moments like this.